


A Boy and his Horse

by Miranthia



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-23
Updated: 2017-12-23
Packaged: 2019-02-18 20:55:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,301
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13108359
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Miranthia/pseuds/Miranthia
Summary: "Let a horse whisper in your ear and breathe on your heart.  You will never regret it." --Unknown





	A Boy and his Horse

**Author's Note:**

> I couldn't stand how this episode played out, I'm sorry.

“Buttons? Really? That’s just adorable!”  
  
Both Aaron and Daryl snorted quietly to themselves, Taytum following behind the two men with a grin plastered across her face. After all of them had gone through their interviews with Deanna, Aaron had requested that the woman be a part of their recruiting team. She was ecstatic with her job assignment, though at the same time she was afraid it was going to keep her away from Dawn and the kids for long periods of time.  
  
However, she was grateful for it regardless of her fears.  
  
And now they were slowly tracking the movements of a horse, of all things.  
  
A horse.  
  
They came to another halt and she finally looked towards the animal in question, positive that they weren’t in any imminent danger. A flash of white amidst the black caused her brow to crease in curiosity, the woman squinting to get a better view of the equine.  
  
“Tate, ya aight?”  
  
“Yeah yeah, I’m fine. I just…….do we have any binoculars?”  
  
Her companion nodded and dug around in his bag without question, Aaron keeping an eye out for any stray Walkers. The horse moved again, the animal’s gait causing the brunette’s mouth to go dry and her heart to pound madly in her chest.  
  
_There’s no way, it’s not possible…._  
  
They came to a crouch, the binoculars passed over to her and she raised them to her eyes. The horse came to a halt, ears back and front hoof pawing agitatedly at the ground. There were about five walkers approaching the animal and Taytum frantically looked at the horse’s back left foot, just a smidge of white visible beneath the mud.  
  
Holy shit.  
  
“Sheridan.”  
  
“Sheridan?”  
  
Taytum let out a short, shrill whistle, and the animal automatically righted it’s ears and turned in their direction, running towards the sound. The walkers were fast approaching, both Aaron and Daryl taking them out as the horse came to a halt in front of the woman.  
  
“Hey there boy, it’s been a while.” she said softly, slowly reaching a hand out towards his twitching muzzle. The horse tossed his head and snorted, backing away from her slowly. It was evident that he hadn’t been around people in a while and was very wary of the woman, though he continued to keep his ears pointed in her direction.   
  
Taytum stood rooted to her spot, hand still extended, as she studied the animal carefully. He was dirty, and a little thinner than she would of liked, but he still looked healthy. Beneath the dirt and mud his coat was still a beautiful jet black, the mane covering up the white star on his forehead. The only other white in his magnificent coat was the white sock on his back foot. After a moment the horse nickered softly and took a few steps forward, pressing his nose into the outstretched hand.  
  
A shuddering laugh escaped her and she stroked his nose softly, taking a step forward to run her free hand along one dusty cheek. Both Daryl and Aaron approached the pair slowly, Daryl watching as the woman’s eyes brimmed with tears, her brow creased in a small frown, yet a smile had lit up her face.  
  
It was confusing, yet Daryl was not about to pry. He was curious about one thing, however.  
  
“Sheridan?”  
  
Taytum switched her gaze to her friend, the horse nudging her and nibbling on her shirt. “Eric. It….it was his idea to name him that.”  
  
Daryl nodded slowly and looked to Aaron, before looking back to the brunette. “Why don’t ya go on…..take ‘im back with ya. I’m sure the lil man will be glad t’see ‘im again.”  
  
“Yeah, I think we’ve got this handled Tate. Plus I’m sure it’ll make all the other kids ecstatic.”  
  
She smiled and nodded, briefly scrubbing at her eyes before walking around to stand to the side of Sheridan. “Alright, I guess I’ll see you guys later then?”  
  
“Course.” Daryl bent slightly and helped to give the woman a boost onto the animal’s back. “He ain’t gonna throw ya, is he?”  
  
She shook her head and patted the side of his neck, long tail swishing in anticipation as she grabbed a fistful of the black mane beneath her hands. “Nah, we’ll be good. And if he does, I’ll just get back on him again.”  
  
Daryl nodded and smacked the flank beneath his hand, watching as the two took off back towards Alexandria.  
  
  
The reception that the two received had been a combination of shock and excitement. Excitement because none of them had seen a horse in a such a long time, and shock because it was a horse. The kids in the community were more excited than anything. At first Deanna wasn’t sure how to respond to the animal being there; for one she wasn’t sure where they could store him. But after she saw Eric, and the way he reacted to the sight of this animal, she decided it was a fantastic idea.  
  
There was a dilapidated barn in the community with a few stalls that could be fixed up, after all.  
  
Dawn stood back next to the brunette, a soft smile on her lips as she watched the boy and his horse. Sheridan whinnied happily and butted the teen with his nose softly, the animal carefully getting to his knees to lay in the soft grass beneath his hooves, Eric slinging his arms around the sturdy neck to lie partially on the horse and the ground.  
  
“They’re attached at the hip, aren’t they?”  
  
Taytum smiled and nodded her head, unable to tear her eyes away from her son. “Always have been. They’ve been together since he was a colt.”  
  
“Why Sheridan?”  
  
The younger woman finally looked away from the sight before her and crossed her arms across her chest, teeth gnawing at her bottom lip. “It’s…...a long story.”  
  
“Hey,” Dawn said softly, reaching out to squeeze one tense shoulder softly. “It’s alright babe, you don’t have to say anything.”  
  
She took in a deep breath and let it out slowly, swallowing the lump in her throat as she blinked back tears. “I got pregnant just after I turned fifteen. I wanted to drop out of school, so that I’d be able to stay with the baby all the time, but Greg nor my family would let me. He did though, and got a job at the autobody shop. It didn’t exactly pay much, but it was his way of trying to support us.”  
  
“When Sheridan came along…” Taytum broke off and laughed quietly, her eyes shining with unshed tears. “It was the best thing in the entire world. She was so tiny, and precious….she was the most beautiful thing that I had ever seen. I’d never seen him so happy in my entire life. We moved in together, and five years later I had Eric. That was the second best day of my life.”  
  
The smile faded from her lips and she looked off at nothing in particular, eyes blinking rapidly. “We were coming home from her dance recital one night… I was driving because Greg didn’t like to after it was dark, and uuuh…. Some drunk ran a red light and t-boned us, going about twenty over. Greg and Eric had some minor injuries, thank goodness. But, Sheridan…..she was only eight. There wasn’t anything that could have been done, the doctor said she died on impact, and that it was a wonder that I hadn’t as well. The entire driver’s side of my car…. Eric was too young to remember it, thankfully.”  
  
“The scars?” Dawn asked quietly, the tears that had welled up in her own eyes refusing to break free.  
  
“Yeah, the scars. Sheridan had always loved horses and she constantly asked us for one, but we’d never gotten around to getting one for her. When Eric was almost five he asked us for one, and then when we got the colt he insisted on naming it after his sister. That’s why Sheridan.”   
  
Taytum cleared her throat and sniffed briskly, looking down at her feet, knowing that she could have stopped there. However once she got started it was easier to continue. “After she died Greg was never the same. He blamed me for the death of our daughter, even though it was in no way my fault. He started drinking…...and then one night he got so drunk he hit me. I brushed it off, blamed it on the alcohol and his grief. But then it started to get worse, and he’d hit me even when he wasn’t drunk. I was pretty good at hiding everything from Eric, but then one night he found me curled up in the bathroom floor and I just….. it was time to go.”  
  
“Why didn’-”  
  
“Don’t ask me that, because I honestly don’t have an answer for it.” Taytum said with an exasperated sigh, shifting her weight to her other foot, her fingers picking agitatedly at a hole in her jeans. “We all do things we aren’t proud of, for whatever reason. Anyways I packed us up and moved back to Atlanta, to a shelter for battered women. I got my old job back at Grady with Travitt, Eric was very well looked after and made really good friends at his new school, and I tried to find a decent home for us so I’d be able to move Sheridan out with us.”  
  
“Greg found us a couple months before everything started. He tried to take Eric from me…. I tried to protect him, to keep him from seeing what his father would do to me…...but Greg had hit me in front of him. He got so mad he tore away from the caseworker that had a hold of him and swung as hard as he could…..and then Greg struck him. He hit my baby. I saw red, and before I knew it I’d shoved him as hard as I could towards the stairs…..and he fell over the railing.”  
  
“Report of domestic violence; man assaults wife and child, killed in self-defense. DOA.” Dawn said slowly, her brow creased in a frown as she looked over at the woman, searching the questioning gaze with her own. “That was you?”  
  
“You weren’t….?”  
  
“No I wasn’t the one that had responded to the call, but one of the officers in my unit had. We were all glad the bastard was dead and were all for filling out the paperwork for you so that you wouldn’t have to.”  
  
Taytum smiled slightly and looked away, her gaze resting on the boy in the distance. “I was happy to. Eric stayed with Ca- with another woman at the shelter while I went down to the station. Everyone was really nice and offered me all kinds of assistance.”  
  
“I’m glad.” Dawn said sincerely, taking the younger woman’s hand in her own and squeezing it lightly. “Where was your family in all of this?”  
  
“I never told them what was going on. They lived across the country anyway, and now…” she broke off and sighed, shrugging her shoulders.  
  
  
The two fell silent after a moment, their hands still clasped together. “If he wasn’t already dead, I’d have killed him myself.”  
  
Taytum looked over at the woman beside her, seeing her jaw clench in anger. She tugged on the hand in hers and the older woman finally looked over at her. “I know. And I’d kill the men that hurt you, too.”  
  
Dawn nodded her head and looked down at their clasped hands. “You didn’t have to tell me all of that….. I know it was hard, and it was very uncomfortable for you to do it. Keeping things bottled up always seems like the best thing to do, but…”  
  
Soft lips captured her own and she smiled slightly, kissing the taller woman back. "I'm sorry." she said gently, tucking a stray strand of hair behind the brunette's ear, the pad of her thumb running across her cheek softly.  
  
"I am too." Taytum replied just as quietly, feeling a single tear slide down her face despite her best efforts to keep them at bay.  
  
Dawn swiped it away gently and pressed a kiss to Taytum's cheek, breaking away after a moment. "Is that why Eric doesn't talk very much?"  
  
"Yes. He didn't talk at all for the longest time, and there for a while I didn't think he ever would again." she smiled and shook her head, once again returning her eyes to the boy and the small crowd that had amassed around them, Sheridan whinnying happily has various fruits and veggies were presented to him. "But he's opened up a lot these past few months. I've never heard him talk so much in his entire life."  
  
"Being surrounded by girls that never stop talking probably helps out a lot."  
  
They both laughed, the younger woman nodding in agreement. She wrapped her arms around the shorter woman and the two stood like that for a long moment, neither one wanting to let go. After a while the two finally broke apart, Dawn lacing their fingers together once more and tugging her towards the crowd.  
  
"Come on, we better go make sure that nag doesn't get too spoiled or he'll get so fat he won't be able to walk."  
  
Taytum laughed and the two set off, glad for this rare moment of normalcy that they'd been allowed. It had been a frequent occurrence since coming to Alexandria, but in the back of their minds they knew not to get used to it.  
  
There was always something hiding behind the corner, just waiting to jump out at them.  
  
But for now, they breathed a little easier and walked a little taller.


End file.
